We have advised the President of Azerbaijan not to speak to us in the language of threat, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with Russian RBC.
He believes this will lead nowhere. However, Pashinyan says, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has always adhered to the position that “Azerbaijan has a powerful army and is able to solve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict within 24 hours if necessary.”
“They have been building this myth over the past 15 years. And they are nervous about the recent developments, because this myth was destroyed. This happened because the Armed Forces of Armenia gave a rebuff that no one would expect. Many did not expect that, even inside Armenia,” the Prime Minister said.
“The reforms of the past two years implemented in Armenia, in general, and in the Armed Forces, in particular, turned very effective,” Pashinyan added.
The Prime Minister added that the possibility of large-scale could not be ruled out, as there were countries inciting tension. “This is first of all Turkey, which is inflaming the conflict. It has both current interests and historical reasons for this.”
“Turkey has not refused from the policy of the genocide of Armenians. Turkey’s President not only refuses to acknowledge the fact of the 1915 Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, but also justifies it. There is another factor. Just like the early 20th century, Turkey has a dream to control the South Caucasus. For the past 30 years, after the collapse of the USSR, they have been working consistently to fulfill this dream,” Nikol Pashinyan stated.
The Prime Minister noted that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs played an important stabilizing role. He added that the actions taken by the Kremlin, the involvement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the General Staff of the Armed Forces played a key role in ensuring relative peace.